When You Don’t Reach Your Goals…

One of the greatest things about reaching our goals is that it increases our self-confidence, which in turn increases our momentum toward reaching other goals in life.

Likewise, it can be pretty discouraging when we don’t reach the goals we set for ourselves. It can be tempting to just give up.

The human mind is a powerful thing, but it also has its limits. When we feel like we can’t accomplish something, our minds start to shut down and close off the possibilities of new goals. It becomes hard to find motivation or inspiration when you’re feeling hopeless and stuck in your life.

There’s a way out of that cycle: here’s how you can keep moving forward even if you don’t reach all of your goals.

Be Positive

Focus on the positive parts of your journey.

When you feel like you’ve failed, the tendency is to focus on all of the negative aspects of your journey.

However, if you think about it, you probably still gained some valuable benefits. You probably learned a lot. You may have met someone new.  You may have found a new perspective. Don’t dwell on what you didn’t get; think about the positives that came out of it.

Reflect

Reflect on why you didn’t reach your goals.

Not reaching your goals is uncomfortable, especially if failure isn’t something you’re used to dealing with in life. It can be embarrassing, discouraging, and depressing.

However, looking at your failures can allow you to grow. Every single person experiences failure – yes, even the most successful people you can think of. In fact, many successful people are known to say that if you’re not failing, you’re not trying enough things.

So instead of pushing it off to the side, reflect on what happened.

You didn’t reach your goal for a reason. Reflecting on the reasons why you failed is important because it gives you clarity about how to improve things in the future. You might want to reach out to people who have succeeded at what you wanted to accomplish to ask them about their journey. They may have been through some of the same challenges that you have.

Be Honest

As you reflect, be deeply honest with yourself. The good, the bad, and the ugly – don’t gloss anything over.

Life is a journey that is filled with both successes and failures. The important thing to remember is that it’s never too late to learn something new or try again. When you feel lost, take some time for self-reflection.

If you can be very honest with yourself, you can gain a lot of wisdom from self-awareness. This wisdom can only help you in the future as you reach for bigger and better things.

Make a New Plan

Rework your goals to set yourself up with success.

Plans sometimes don’t work out. We all know this, but it’s still easy to let ourselves get discouraged when things don’t go as planned. We’d all like to think we’ve created the solid, disaster-proof plan, but those don’t exist.

However, consider how much more powerful you can be if you use this moment to rethink your goals and make them even more achievable than they were before.

Rework your goals with all that you’ve learned in mind and you’ll be able to move forward so much faster. Think of all the potential obstacles you possibly can and how you might overcome them.

Love Yourself

Know that your worth is not in your achievements.

Don’t beat yourself up or treat yourself poorly because you didn’t get it 100% right.  Be kind and gentle with yourself.

Remember that your worth is not in what you achieve; your value comes from who you are as a person.

Don’t dwell on what went wrong, either – just get back to the drawing board.

Think of how you’d treat your best friend if she was feeling down about not reaching her goal – you wouldn’t belittle her or kick her while she’s down. You would encourage her and help her move forward confidently.

Treat yourself with that same kindness – you deserve it.

Stand on the Backs of Giants

Get guidance from others who have been in your shoes.

If you can, reach out to people who have been where you are right now.

Their feedback and guidance might be just what you need. They may give you ideas about how they got through it themselves, or point out other opportunities for growth that you wouldn’t have thought of yourself. It’s always helpful to know that we’re not alone in our challenges and struggles. The people who have gone before you can give you a lot of encouragement plus practical strategies about what to do next!

Goal setting is a powerful way to improve your life, but things rarely go exactly how we plan them. Use these tips to keep moving forward even when you experience setbacks and have obstacles to overcome.